


The Morning Papers

by Quipxotic



Series: Mix Tapes: Prince [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode: s02e08 The Impossible Planet, F/M, Ficlet, Gap Filler, Inspired by Music, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 05:45:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6643750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quipxotic/pseuds/Quipxotic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During the events of "The Impossible Planet," Rose Tyler bumps into something that reminds her of the past and her hopes for the future with the Doctor.</p><p>First story in a series featuring various fandoms and inspired by Prince songs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Morning Papers

Rose was retrieving some items from storage for Ida when she bumped into the music player. Literally, her shoulder thumped against it during one of the quakes that periodically shook the sanctuary base. The player turned on instantly, startling her. The contrast from the relative silence of the base was jarring. 

Then, with a shock, she realized that she recognized the song it was playing.

 _“They could take a walk down the oceanside_  
_Make a wish on every wave_  
_They could find a carousel_  
_And ride or kiss in every cave_  
_They could contemplate the entire universe_  
_Or just one star_  
_Or just how far was the walk 4 the morning papers”_

She remembered her mum playing it over and over again, particularly on Sunday mornings. Rose couldn’t have been more than seven or eight, but she had always liked the song. Somehow it managed to be both happy and sad at the same time.

Rose picked up the device. “Bet you’re not company issue,” she said to it. “Wonder which one smuggled you onboard? Ida? Danny? Zack? Certainly not Mr. Jefferson.” Then she finally put a name to the voice singing. “Prince, yeah?” she laughed. “Bet you’d be over the moon to know your music was still being played. Even here, on a bit of rock in orbit around a black hole.”

 _“Why is age more than a number when it comes 2 love?_  
_Should we ask the ones who speculate_  
_When they don't know what it's made of?_  
_Should we ask the moonlight on your face_  
_Or the raindrops in your hair_  
_Or should we ask the man who wrote it there in the morning papers”_

She stared at the music player and the hair rose on the back of her neck. That hit a little too close to home - like a voice from the past delivering a message just for her. She’d meant what she’d said about being willing to share her life with the Doctor. She already was, so what was the difference whether it was in the TARDIS or on some random planet with normal jobs and a mortgage? But it always made him uncomfortable when she talked about stuff like that. “You can spend the rest of your life with me. But I can’t spend the rest of mine with you,” he’d said once. “So what?” she’d thought at the time. You spend what life you’ve got the best way you can. And she knew now, without a shadow of a doubt, that the best way to spend hers was with the Doctor.

The song had ended, shifting to one that she didn’t know. Rose fiddled with the player until she found how to turn it off and then carefully placed it back on the storage shelf. She grabbed the equipment she’d been sent for and then hurried out of the room. The Doctor had been talking about going down into the drill shaft with Ida when Rose had been sent on her errand. She didn’t want to miss him.


End file.
